Briton Priti Patel, former UK Secretary of State for International Development, is not sounding very pretty over Nigeria.
For a Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) deal gone awry with a British firm, P&ID, Ms Patel has assumed accuser, judge and jury in her own case; and in her court, has sentenced Nigeria — an investment pariah no investor must touch.
Verily, verily Hardball says to other Patel-like Brits: blood is indeed thicker than water! And were it a play, or indeed any genre of writing more dramatic that a newspaper opinion piece, the Patel ranting and sweeping convictions would have been titled: “The Brit, the cash, and the blackmail”!
Ms Patel fumes — no disinterested party, for the particular reason that she is a Brit, just as the firm, which cause she was pushing — over a 2010 botched deal between NNPC and P&ID, a 20-year contract to create a new natural gas development refinery.
Because that deal went bad, Ms Patel scrambled to her word processor, and fired, for a British local newspaper, a judgment condemning Nigeria as an investment outcast — just because one deal went awry!
Especially cheap was the magisterial way Ms. Patel wielded the so-called “international law” as some potent blackmail — some sword of Damocles that must (sharp-sharp, as they say in that famous Nigerian urban lingo) come swishing down to consume the object of her ire!
Luckily, that mythical Greek sword never comes down. But scrupulous fairness drives the fear that it evinces. Nevertheless, that potent morality doesn’t cover Ms. Patel — for you can’t be involved in a case, and yet pass judgment in that same case. If the famous British justice was that warped, no one would respect it today.
Of course, the former British minister stacked her blackmail card, referencing some so-called Transparency International (TI) rating, claiming corruption had flared, under President Muhammadu Buhari. Well, everyone is entitled to their democratic delusion. But right-thinking Nigerians know that claim is a fallacy.
But even if that were true, when did Patel’s country start playing the active anti-corruption partner with Nigeria? The last time Hardball checked, a good chunk of Nigeria’s stolen money nestles in British vaults, powering their economy, willy-nilly. If Ms Patel’s stand is on Nigeria is not hypocrisy, Hardball would be ready for new and extensive schooling on what is!
Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesperson, has explained the state of the contract in dispute, suggesting it could have been some racket under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency in 2010, which needed some due diligence to clarify. In any case, the matter is before a US court. So, why the rush to condemn and malign, when a court is yet to give its verdict?
But no prize for guessing right: it’s the sickening sense of entitlement, nay arrogance, that sparked British imperialism in the first instance. You must pardon Ms Patel for thinking Nigeria is some British neo-imperialist enclave, that could be threatened and hectored and bullied into to parting with her scarce resources, because some Brit just thundered!
Well again, Ms Patel is entitled to her democratic delusions!
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